Should I leave Bulb now, or wait?

JP_

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Only just spotted this from a few days ago

The UK's sixth largest energy company, Bulb, is seeking a bailout to stay afloat amid surging wholesale gas prices.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58619418

Currently, I pay Bulb about £140 a month, and I am now using about £120 (they put it up in summer when I had the heated pool, but no gas heating on).

They suggested today that I start paying £250 a month. A bit extreme, especially as the heating is still not on.

Wondering if there is any benefit to leave now, rather than wait and see. And if so, where to go? Back to British Gas maybe?
 
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STOP.

If you have a positive balance with Bulb (or any energy supplier) then that money is protected in law & ringfenced. If the company goes bust then ofgem will transfer your account along with your balance whether it is positive or negative.

If you cancel your account with Bulb today it is "unclear" if any positive balance retains that protection. If bulb were to go under before your money is repaid then you may become a creditor of the company.

There is no point in changing energy suppliers until all this blows over (when the sun comes out next year), there is nowhere to go to, all favourable fixed price deals have dissapeared & the best you can hope for if your supplier goes under is the price cap.
 
Bulb in special administration

Gov bail out, as nowhere for the 1.7m customers to go.

Just waiting to see what happens now.

For months they have been harassing me to put more credit on my account (just paying the bill in full is not enough, they want a credit on the account to cover the next month) - but I have refused to so far - I have £70 credit on the account, that will likely reduce to nothing over the next few months though.

Will be interesting to see if they still keep asking me to pay more
 
i'm with bulb, its best to stay put for now, just need to wait it out and hope the gas prices fall back down.
 
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Yeah. Probably cannot leave. I tried uswitch, and British Gas, and neither were taking on new customers.

The comparison sites must be struggling, as they have no deals to offer people at the moment.
 
do nothing absolutely nothing then you are protected by the price cap under your present contract if you move you do NOT HAVE THE UNIT PRICE CAP
 
Also be careful, they dont try and switch you to a new contract, as has happened to a few people reading again on the martin lewis site and others.
People are being offered other deals, as soon as you change then you are on a different contract and nolonger on the standard variable and nolonger capped
From what I have read, allowing the contract to roll over to the standard rate, is then capped. My sons company went bust about a month ago and thats when I last looked into it, along with my daughter on Bulb, and the general information around Bulb was they would not just switch to a different supplier because of the number of customers 1.7M and that it would be a huge risk for anyother company who would not be able to cope with the credits etc . hence why is now in "special" administration
 
I quite like the idea that my gas bill is now subsidised from my tax bill :) :) :)
 
A small moral victory. They predicted I would use £217 in November, which is partly why they want £250 a month instead of £140.
Latest readings in, and I used £167. Still a lot, but a lot less than they predicted. Must get the bathroom insulated before it gets much colder ...
Not sure why they think I am going to use so much electric then - maybe they expect me to buy a massive turkey this year and start cooking it now ...

bulb projected and actual november.jpg
 
A small moral victory. They predicted I would use £217 in November, which is partly why they want £250 a month instead of £140.
Latest readings in, and I used £167. Still a lot, but a lot less than they predicted. Must get the bathroom insulated before it gets much colder ...
Not sure why they think I am going to use so much electric then - maybe they expect me to buy a massive turkey this year and start cooking it now ...

View attachment 252753

How come your lekky is so high???
 
Dunno, what is normal?

In the summer I had a pool heater running, so it was higher then. Last month the heating controller stopped, so I did use the immersion heater for a few days. Other than that, no idea. Unless it's just the kids with their computers, xboxes, TVs, leaving lights on ... We are trying to use the tumlbe drier less at the moment, maybe it was being used too much since summer. Maybe that will make a difference.

Bulb electric tariff is

Unit rate
20.86p per kWh

Standing charge
24.01p per day
 
A small moral victory. They predicted I would use £217 in November, which is partly why they want £250 a month instead of £140.
Latest readings in, and I used £167. Still a lot, but a lot less than they predicted. Must get the bathroom insulated before it gets much colder ...
Not sure why they think I am going to use so much electric then - maybe they expect me to buy a massive turkey this year and start cooking it now ...

View attachment 252753

Surely you can switch that graph to show kWh rather than ££?

Otherwise it will be distorted by price changes.
 
That would be far too sensible, so it's not possible!
 
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